Nightfall on the Frontier
by regeris
Summary: Following the defeat of D-Reaper, the Digital World became an open secret. Governments of the world came together and sought to control it- or wipe out its inhabitants, and in the process severely destabilizing their world. As Sovereigns attempt to fight the ever-tightening noose, several teenagers are caught on the brink of an all-out war. Tamers/Frontier Crossover.
1. Prologue

**Note:** **Digimon belongs to Bandai and Toei. Anything you recognize here is not mine.**

It was well past midnight; the black-blue sky shimmered with a hint of dawn. The atmosphere was leaden and stuffed with thick mist. The city of Tokyo was mostly asleep, but some lights were still on. There was a creek of a wooden door and it slid open. Roars of raucous laughter could be be heard echoing through the building's wooden, hollow walls. A seventeen-year-old young man staggered out of the pub, one arm slung around the neck of a heavily-made-up young woman.

"And my supposed _father_ said I'd better get my act together, or he'd cut off my allowance." The young man slurred in his stupor. "Allowance? Fuck allowance. I don't need his god damn charity. He doesn't know shit. He thinks I care about trivia like that. If I want to leave that house and never come back because I'm _sick_ _of his fucking face_, being broke isn't going to stop me. You hear me? He doesn't know _shit_!"

"What a bitch!" The girl agreed, straining under his weight. The boy continued to mutter angrily, his voice sinking into incoherence as though he were about to pass out. The girl rolled her eyes. The couple waded through the dirty streets soaked with alcohol and the girl was increasingly tempted to dump the boy where she stood. These hours were unsafe, and a drunk boy like him would be no help if some thug were to attack them.

It wasn't like he was a model boyfriend anyway. He kept talking about some group he was in three years ago (whom he apparently had not contacted in at least two), about some D-Reaper, in whose defeat he boasted he played a vital role (he was certainly lying, she decided), and would never shut up about this _girl_ (whose name escapes her). She should have known, dating a former child celebrity, that he would have a huge ego, that he would want her for nothing more than her full breasts and willingness to show them off. He often spoke _at_ her as though she weren't there, as though he were living in another place, another time and she were transparent, nonexistent. He would speak so _earnestly_ too, in a way that made it impossible for her to stay angry at him, then she remembered that his little spiel is all about _him_. She was just a wall he was talking to. And that self-satisfied smirk that sent girls swooning: it's infuriating- as though he knew something she didn't, like he were some emperor doing a kindness to a sycophant.

She despised him in return, fooling around with other boys when he wasn't looking, and sometimes when he _was_ looking. Whenever she did that he would withdraw and give her the silent treatment, and that would make her want him all over again. They had carried on like this for two years and became all the more addicted to each other. She knew she was his emotional tampon- without her, he would have no one to moan to about his past. As for her, his hot-and-cold behavior was noxiously addictive. When he paid her heed, her spirit would soar- it was better than crack. When he ignored her presence as he was wont to do, she would sink into dark despair.

Jerking out of her thoughts, she noticed they had wandered into a tall shadow. That's not supposed to be here! She said to herself. She looked up and all she saw was a gigantic dark mass with glowing red eyes. If mist could perform such a feat, she swore it positively _wrapped_ _around_ this monstrosity. Her breath caught in her throat, and all she could hear was her heart pounding in her chest.

"Give me the boy." It ordered her in a cold voice devoid of passion. She did not need to be told twice. Leaving him to slump onto the graveled pavement, she turned and walked the other way, quickly breaking into a nervous run. In that moment, the boy seemed to regain a sliver of his consciousness.

"Seiko…?" He croaked, raising his head from a supine position. "_Seiko_!"

She did not look back.

***Tip: I DO like reviews. I'm not going to withhold chapters until I get reviews (I'm going to keep writing even if no one reads it because I like to write), but they ARE encouraging and have given me a lot of ideas in the past, so they are highly appreciated.**

**This is:**

**- Season 1-5 crossover (as in, they all HAPPENED in my universe). They're not all equally featured.**

**- Will get a bit... dark later on. Will contain character deaths, but I don't do graphic descriptions. Contains minimal (as in, next to none) sexual/romantic content. Some swearing, but only as the need arises.**


	2. Forever

**April 2005**

"I can't believe he's not going to pick up!" Orimoto Izumi complained, throwing herself on her flower-patterned bed in resignation. She glanced out the window. It was the height of spring, and at 4 PM it could have been noon by the way the sun was shining. The first of April: It was the first day of school for _them_, but she had only two months left of the school year. She stared at the ceiling for a while, sat up abruptly, tore off her navy woolen pullover with a British school's coat of arms, flung it on her carpet where her history papers were scattered, and collapsed again, letting out a sigh of satisfaction.

Her phone vibrated for a split second and she perked up, ready to press the green "pick up" button.

"Is it him?" She wondered out loud. It was only junk mail. "Why are you always talking to yourself?" She whispered to the ceiling. The silence, it's deafening. She never did like solitude (or waiting) much. "Shut up!"

"I didn't say anything, dear." A woman walked through her bedroom door, fruit plate in hand.

Mrs. Orimoto was average in all sense of the word: average height, average looks, average build. Even her _voice_ sounded annoyingly average to Izumi. With only a high school diploma, she couldn't even find a real _job._ Izumi would never be like that, she decided (never mind that her mother never got to attend expensive private international schools or speak four languages - Izumi doesn't think about that very much). The only thing that _could_ potentially stand out was her fiery red hair, which over the years have faded to dull copper. Izumi hated how average she was, hated that like a lot of women she knew, she was meek and submissive to her husband, hated that she never _once_ stood up for her against her father.

"Did you? Good. You're the _last_ person I want to talk to."

"You're being extremely rude, you know that?"

"You deserve it for ruining my life a third time." Izumi declared vehemently and turned to the wall, unwilling to look at her. Her mother sighed, and that made Izumi hate her even more: she couldn't even find the guts to stand up to her own daughter!

"You know your father and I have no choice."

"On the contrary, I think you have plenty of choices. He didn't need to take that _stupid job_, for starters!" Izumi retorted, her voice full of petulant fury. In that moment, Vivaldi's "Spring" set in midi format rang through the room.

"I have a call. Now _get out_." She ordered. Her mother looked like she'd been slapped. Backing slowly away from her bed, she set the plate of watermelon on her desk and tiptoed out of the room.

"The fruit's on your desk." She said, before closing the door gingerly. Izumi was not listening.

"Junpei! Why didn't you pick up earlier?" Izumi admonished.

"Hey, hey! Don't get mad! I was on the bus and didn't hear you. You know how loud you kids can be." Junpei sounded happy to hear her voice. No matter what he was doing at the moment, he always had time to pick up a call from Izumi, which she was infinitely grateful for.

"_You kids_?! Are you lumping me in with those rowdy hooligans?" Izumi faked offense. "How's you first day of high school?"

"Swamped with work already, unfortunately. If you want to hang out today, sorry, can't do it."

Izumi pursed her lips. "You're SO annoying, Junpei."

"Are you _pouting_ at me on the other end, Izumi dearest?"

"Of course I'm not! Anyway. That's too bad, I guess. Good luck with homework!" The cheerful note in her voice returned.

"Of course you're not. Thanks for the luck. I'll need it." Junpei sighed. "Have fun with your little party!"

"Oh, I _will_! Bye!"

"Laters!"

Disappointed, Izumi decided to try another number. Sifting through her contacts, she reached Kanbara Takuya's name but somehow scrolled past it. "Darn it!" She said, and scrolled back up one by one. Having found his number, she pressed "dial". She was certain he was going to pick up fairly soon. After all, that was what he had always done. Like her, he had no patience for anything. That, along with extreme argumentativeness, were among the few traits the two had in common.

Contrary to her expectations, the dial tone rang for the most _ungodly_ length of time. After nine rings she was ready to hang up, but then she heard the unmistakable click of the phone being picked up.

"Hello?" A self-assured voice intoned. But it was not Takuya.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Kanbara. Can you put Takuya on the phone please?"

"Oh! Hello Izumi! He's not home from school."

"Did he leave his phone at home?"

"Yes. That forgetful little fool!" Mrs. Kanbara said fondly. Izumi had always been taken with Mrs. Kanbara- the woman had a clear, strong voice, much like her son. But unlike her son, she was a good deal smarter (according to Izumi anyway) and wickedly funny at that. "Do you have a message for him?"

"Yes, but will he be back soon?"

"Sorry, Izumi. He's going to be out until dinnertime. He's coaching Shinya on soccer."

"Shinya's lucky to have a big brother like him, then!" If nothing else, Izumi had always been good at saying the right thing at the right time. Mrs. Kanbara's hearty laugher told Izumi she was pleased with what she had said.

"Well, if there's nothing else, I'll tell Takuya you called."

"Many thanks, Mrs. Kanbara! Bye!"

Another fruitless attempt. With any luck, Takuya _could_ come over after dinner, but she was not banking on it. Last year of junior high after all, thought Izumi ruefully, ruminating on what Junpei had said. He was going to have a considerable amount of homework (which he would not begin until after dinner). She knew from an earlier call that Tomoki was on a camping trip, so he wouldn't be able to make it. She thought back to that sunny afternoon from three years ago.

"Forever." She seethed. They had pledged to be together forever. Well, now she knew what that word was worth. "Forever." She said, more deflated. Her bookshelf was lined with photographs of Izumi with her friends in chronological order from left to right.

The leftmost photo was one of four-year-old Izumi next to a chubby red-headed girl of the same age. Izumi's blonde hair was thinner back then and pulled into endearing pigtails. Her toothy grin was wide, her jubilance contagious. She was wearing a pink dress that made her look like a little fairy. Izumi did not remember the circumstances of that photograph: She was too young. But she had to laugh all the same. Will she ever be that innocent again? Next to her was a girl she had only the barest recollections of. The girl was wearing overalls; her hair was tied into a thin braid and upon her head was a pretty straw hat. Unlike the younger Izumi, the girl looked thoughtful and troubled. What would a four-year-old scowl about? Izumi wondered. Who was she? She could only suppose the girl had been a friend, else why would her younger self save that photograph?

Next to that photo was six-year-old Izumi with her arms around a young brunette. Julia! Izumi recalled happily. Another photograph had Julia and Izumi as well, along with Annette and Jürgen, her closest friends until she left Germany; the four were at the beach and before them was their (failed) attempt at a sand castle. Then she was nine and stood gaily in front of the Coliseum in Rome next to her new best friend, Marco.

Even more to the right stood a group photo with the other kids who had gone into the Digital World with her, and the rightmost photograph had Izumi next to Junpei and Takuya whom she counts her best friends presently. It was a year after they had returned from the Digital World and the three of them were squeezed into a photo booth. Man, do we look silly! She thought. But none of them could come today. It would have to be another day, she thought with a twinge of sadness. _If_ school doesn't get any busier, that is!

Contemplating her photos, she suddenly realized that one number (which she always put off calling) still remained: Kimura Kouichi. His brother Kouji often visited him after school and the two would do their homework in silence. It was a tradition that had not been broken for three years; she did not see any reason it should start today. It's hard to say why it always made her so nervous to call that house. She had no problem with Kouichi, who was always kind and thoughtful, but then there's Kouji. Tomoko was always out of the house until 8 PM, so any calls would be picked up by the twins. Neither relished receiving calls but Kouji was usually the first to be fed up with abrasive ringing (as an aside, that's why ringtones had to be abrasive! Izumi mused. Why else should people pick up?). Minamoto Kouji, bless his soul, had a proclivity to answer his phone with: "What do you want?" or "What now?", or just "What?" It always made her recoil a little, though she always tried hard to hide it. But Kouji was her friend all the same, and if they were going to be friends she had better get used to his mannerisms.

Half an hour later, the bell rang and the twins were at her door.

**Note: I tried pretty hard to portray Izumi (who is to be one of my main protagonists) as a _teenage girl_ in all her glory, insolence and all, and to lay out her problems this chapter. I gathered from the show that she had many bad qualities among her good ones. She was compassionate, gregarious and optimistic, but on the flip side she could also be self-centered and touchy.**

**I had certainly hoped to accomplish more with this chapter because of my belief that every chapter should advance the plot, but I really want to establish Izumi's character and her voice. Let me know whether it was too long-winded and how I could express the same content with less action. This story might be subject to major revisions later on, as you might imagine.**

**And I should clarify that this story has more than two protagonists (Izumi is one of them), not all of them are listed in the story properties.**

**Also, I feel there needs to be some technical clarifications. According to my research, Japanese public schools begin the school year in early April, so in April 2005, the boys would be STARTING their school year. However, in my story Izumi eventually transferred to a British International School (which actually exists! I'm curious if any of you could figure out which school I chose for her) which does the fairly conventional Late August - Early June school year.**


	3. Rumors and Rumors

"Kouji! Kouichi! I didn't know you were coming by today! Please, have a seat. I'll make you some lemon water." Izumi heard her mother speaking. She ran downstairs as swiftly as she could, nearly tripping over her feet on the (fortunately) carpeted stairs.

"Thanks for coming over, you two." Izumi chirped. "Though it looks like it's just going to be the three of us."

"Oh? What happened with the others?" Kouichi inquired curiously.

"Tomoki is on a trip Takuya couldn't be reached Junpei has too much homework. First day of high school and all." Izumi summarized in one breath.

"Whoa, slow down!" Kouichi said, smiling.

"Knowing Takuya he likely neglected to bring his phone." Kouji shrugged. "And knowing Junpei it's not so much the amount of work, but that he takes twice as long as he should to do it. Some people optimize their allotted time."

"Right, Kouji, I suppose you're trying to imply you're one of those superhumans." Izumi said in mock-irritation, crossing her arms.

"Oh, not at all." He said airily at Izumi's raised eyebrow. "It doesn't take a superhuman."

"Don't mind him, Izumi. He's the efficient one, not me, and he never misses an opportunity to subtly rub it in my face." Kouichi whispered, pulling Izumi aside before she could argue. Izumi giggled at his words.

"Lemon water is ready, kids!" Mrs. Orimoto's voice floated from the kitchen.

* * *

The television was running in the background but that was the way of things in the Orimoto household. Her mother was _always_ watching the television. Izumi, Kouji and Kouichi sat down around the dinner table, sipping their lemon water and the twins regarded her with concern.

"There's something I wanted to say to you in person", Izumi had said to them.

_"... That's an interesting thought. In other news, Tokyo is no longer a safe city for children to live in. What do you think of the recent disappearances?"_

That talk show again, Izumi cringed inwardly. She ignored the noise as best she could.

"I'm going away in June." She said simply.

"That does explain the boxes." Kouji observed.

"No, you don't understand!" She was about to protest, before her nosy mother appeared behind her yet again.

"You kids should see this!" She ushered them toward the television. "Next time, you need to have an adult accompany you when you go out." She admonished the twins.

Kouichi sported a polite smile, as always, but Kouji's was stiff and didn't quite reach his eyes. He didn't like being patronized like a child, Izumi observed. Sort of like her.

_"And did you hear? You must have heard, Mr. Takei. Shame on the city police! From this morning, two of the missing kids have turned up dead."_

Kouichi looked worried and Kouji looked bored. Evidently he had a habit of reading the morning papers.

_"That doesn't bode well for Akiyama Ryo and Makino Ruki, two of the most high profile and the most recent disappearances. Some Digimon fans speculated they eloped, could you imagine?"_

"Makino Ruki is your cousin, Izumi." Mrs. Orimoto whispered. "Your uncle is worried sick."

"I didn't even know Uncle had a daughter", Izumi whispered back. She had a vague notion of that name back when the D-Reaper was still a big deal. The Orimoto household never mention that Makino Ruki and until today she was just a name.

_"Still, you can't blame them. The two are known to have become quite close three years ago when they battled the D-Reaper, and they vanished within the same day- the- what did they call her back then- Digimon Queen? And the Legendary Tamer, no less. Isn't it curious?"_

_"It appears you're not the only one who thought it was queer; some journalist took it upon himself to interview the kids' families. Turns out all of them had been avid Digimon players. I smell a conspiracy theory."_

_"And he thinks there's a connection?"_

_"Who knows? He's just in for a big scoop anyway, you know what they're like. Actually believing his own theories is not a part of his job description."_

At that, Kouji shifted and sat up straight, his impassive expression gone. What's he thinking? Izumi wondered. But she didn't have too long to speculate before her mother was whispering in her ear again.

"That's because your uncle divorced her mother. He hasn't seen them, mother _or_ daughter, in years. You knew her a long time ago. You have a picture of her on your shelf, I think." That petite redhead, of course.

"So why are we talking about this now?"

"He's my brother! I'm worried about him! Can't I indulge myself in front of you once in a while?"

"What, for him and not his daughter? How _noble_ of you." Izumi said rudely. Mrs. Orimoto's jaw dropped as she struggled to find her voice again. Failing, she stood up and stormed out of the living room. For the past two days, everything her mother did irritated the hell out of her, and this was just the worst.

_"Parents are cautioned to chaperone their children at all times..."_

The damn talk show was still on! Izumi picked up the remote and turned it off.

"Sorry, I've had enough of that for one afternoon." She told the twins.

"What just happened?" Kouichi asked, gesturing towards the door through which Mrs. Orimoto had left.

"We had a little spat. Happens fairly often. It's nothing." Izumi said dismissively.

Kouichi only frowned, and Izumi at once felt ashamed remembering the plight Tomoko still faced everyday: leaving home at 8 in the morning and returning twelve hours later, working odd jobs in addition to her full time job just to keep the bills paid and her son fed. Izumi was about to apologize when Kouji suddenly spoke up, having been silent throughout.

"Something's up with the Digital World." He said tersely, leaving no room for arguments. "We need to investigate right away."

"How do you know?" Izumi asked, before she realized how dumb she had sounded. Damn it! She has always felt dumb next to Kouji and here it's happening all over again.

"It's obvious." He replied, and she felt even dumber. She wished he wouldn't phrase things like that.

"And how did you gather that, little brother? From the god-sent intuitions of a crackpot journalist?" Kouichi countered, his expression hardening. She had never seen the two brothers argue before, but in this moment even the most fervent skeptic wouldn't doubt they were twins, as differently as they presented themselves. But apparently this happened quite a lot, because Kouji looked unfazed by his bother's sudden change.

"Really, Kouichi, I expected better from you. How else was the D-Reaper neutralized? Certainly not with just smarts of our beloved HYPNOS and the naive tomfoolery of some fifth graders. Most of us know better, though the government hate the mention of it: they had Digimon at their disposal. You don't think it's a coincidence, do you, that the two dead kids happen to be associated with the group of children who were supposedly involved with the Digimon who fought the D-Reaper? That all of the other abducted, absconded, or likely-dead-but-never-found children were obsessed with the franchise? Please tell me my question is rhetorical and you don't have some other answer than 'no'." Kouji said, his dark, intelligent eyes boring into his brother's.

Before Kouichi could respond, all of their phones rang at the same time in a disorienting dissonance; all three calls were from an unknown number. Kouji looked at Kouji and Izumi significantly before picking up. He motioned for the other two to let him answer.

"What is it?" He asked shortly.

"Hello! Who is this?" A childish voice asked.

"_You're_ the one who called. You tell me."

"Um..." The voice on the other end was audibly intimidated.

"Are you going to speak?" Kouji asked in a challenging tone.

"For God's sake, let me." Izumi said in exasperation and took over his phone.

"Good afternoon. Orimoto Izumi speaking. May I help you?"

Izumi fell silent for the longest time and all the boys could hear were muted gibberish on the other end, then she hung up without saying "goodbye" and slowly put the phone down.

"And?" Asked Kouji. Izumi paused before making a reply.

"And you've won the pissing contest for the day, you arrogant ass. I hope you're pleased." She said caustically. Kouji's attitude gets to her sometimes. No, it gets to her _most_ of the time. He looked taken aback and slightly guilty.

"I'm sorry. I haven't been watching my tone." He apologized, his serious expression spoke of his sincerity. Izumi sighed.

"Forget it. Anyway, you're right. That Kotemon said the Digital World is in chaos, and the Celestial Digimon are in captivity. They want us to help rescue them and keep them safe."

"Can we trust this guy?" Asked Kouichi.

"It doesn't matter. Like Kouji said, we should investigate. _Something_ isn't right."

"Did he say how we can get to the Digital World? The underground station was destroyed when Lucemon invaded, and I don't think the government knows about that place." Kouji pointed out. She shrugged.

"Apparently we're supposed to go back to some elevator in Shibuya station you used. I hope you know which one." Both boys nodded solemnly. Kouichi had a particularly painful experience associated with that elevator.

"I suppose that's our only lead. We should take something with us if we might be going to the Digital World. Izumi, pack as much food as you can and we'll go to our house together to get our stuff. We don't want you coming out here to meet us alone considering what happened to those kids." Kouichi suggested, just as Izumi's phone rang again; it was Junpei. Apparently he had gotten the same call.

"No, Junpei, stay put. We don't know what it is yet, or even if the elevator would _lead_ anywhere. If we see anything, we'll call you. We don't want you traveling alone." Izumi looked at Kouichi in askance; he nodded back. "Look, I don't have time to explain 'why'. Yes, of course we'll keep you posted."

Izumi hung up and ran into the kitchen. Searching through the cabinets, she took out two large rolls of bread, four cans of tuna and some pears, then her eyes fell upon lemon water. She surveyed the tastefully decorated kitchen and it was impeccably clean, though the beginnings of dinner preparation were laid out on the kitchen counter. She thought back to her room and the mess she made on the floor, which her mother was no doubt cleaning up now. I've been extremely rude, haven't I? She thought. She hastily wrote "I'm sorry" on a sticky and put it next to the shopping list where she knew her mother would find it.

**Note: So the plot is finally going somewhere. I hope it didn't take TOO long to start. Oh, I'm particularly interested in what you think of my characterization of these three kids, so if you leave a review I'd appreciate it if you would comment on that.**


	4. The Law Does Not Forget

Lee Jenrya stood in his apartment on the twenty-first floor, gazing out into the setting sun as was his habit. He drummed his fingers against the glass, deep in thought. Ruki and Ryo disappeared a week ago. While he never cared much for Ryo, at least not in an emotional sense, Ruki's absence kept him up at night.

Their friendship had never been easy, and to say it started on the wrong foot would be a gross understatement, particularly because they first met when Ruki had just tried to _delete_ Guilmon. Mature for his age, Jenrya refrained from feeling any emotions toward her conduct and instead tried to check her whenever he could, but even he had to admit that he was judging her. Wise-beyond-his-years, holier-than-thou Jenrya was _always_ judging.

Before long it was exceedingly difficult to ignore his growing dislike for her. Not really hatred- even at age 10 Jenrya was too sophisticated for hatred- but a long and enduring _dislike_. After they had become a group it became a sort of tolerant ambivalence and that endured until, well, Sakuyamon happened, until she undertook her breathtakingly courageous leap of faith to save them all, when his admiration for her blossomed. Even then, though mutual dislike was gone and there was even something positive, that did not mean they sought out each other's company. Jenrya often thought if it had not been for Takato, they would have broken apart a long time ago.

Ruki herself was particularly difficult to please. After what was termed the "D-Reaper Incident", Ruki attended Jenrya and Takato's public school for a brief spell then before abruptly deciding she could not endure the subpar instruction (compared to what she had received in private school) and the sheer pettiness of their classmates. After a term, she transferred out to some expensive junior high. Takato then ventured that they should meet to play the Digimon TCG once a week- that didn't work either because Ruki had apparently "graduated" from that "silly children's game" - her words. That poor wretch. Jenrya had always known she was a mess after her separation with Renamon. He had not anticipated it would be _that_ bad.

Takato then had a stroke of genius and suggested they should all take chess classes together. It was no time before Ruki was wiping the floor with both of them, but they were both content to be beaten as long as they could be together. That idea stuck until Ruki vanished in the most suspicious of circumstances a week ago: on her way to orchestra practice. Ever since she had been accepted into the Tokyo Junior Philharmonic Orchestra (one of the most prestigious in the world) and promoted to associate concertmaster, she was obsessed with becoming concertmaster. She was not going to settle for second best, never mind that she was only fourteen and had achieved heights few could dream of. Not Makino Ruki. "Life is a game", she used to say, "and I intend to win."

Nothing could deter her ambition or her growing intolerance for concertmaster Ichikawa Katsurou, the handsome 17-year-old violinist with a winning personality. No one could despise him but Ruki, so she would _never_ miss a practice in hopes that she might impress the director enough to displace him. That she _did_ miss practice told Jenrya that her disapperance was against her will. Sometimes Jenrya wondered whether she had two personalities inside her: this vindictive, fanatical teenager was nothing like the Ruki who leapt into that canyon all those years ago, lit by a refulgent violet flame.

Her disappearance had something to do with Digimon, of that much he could be certain. Yamaki had called Janyu earlier that day to report several breaches in the barrier. Surprisingly, no Wild Ones have been detected entering the Material World- either that, or HYPNOS could not detect them; the very thought made Jenrya's blood run cold. In any case this meant something else as well: their partners could cross over any day now, and soon they would be reunited. Jenrya had always imagined seeing Terriermon again would be under happier circumstances, but now… What now?

"Is Takato-kun coming over today?" A piercing voice interrupted his reverie.

He turned around and saw his sister Shuichon, now in fifth grade. She had grown into a pretty but silly young girl: years of being pampered probably didn't help matters. She had a good eye for fashion and was always the best-dressed among her peers. From her obsession with appearances in her younger days, she could also pull off surprisingly complex hairstyles on her own. Today, however, she wore two simple braids stemming from her temples which were pulled back and tied behind her head, allowing the rest of her hair to drape around her shoulders, simple yet luxurious.

"Yes." He said simply, and turned back towards the cityscape.

"What are you going to do?" She asked again, persistent, joining him at the window. Jenrya sighed, realizing she was up to something.

"We're going to see someone."

"But _who_?"

"Shuichon, sometimes not everything's your business."

"Sometimes", she admitted, "but not this time. It _is_ my business because it has to do with Digimon, doesn't it? Don't lie to me, big brother, like you and father used to do."

Jenrya looked at her in exasperation. "What do you want me to say? We're going to see Yamaki. And you're right, something's up. I just can't get anything past you, it seems."

"Why would you _try_ in the first place?" Shuichon looked angry.

"We have no idea what's going on, and Yamaki knows us, not you. You've seen the news! Children are disappearing left and right. I don't want you out there wandering about."

"I'm ten!"

"Which makes you far too young."

"Come off it, Jenrya! That was how old YOU were!"

"It was a different world then and besides, I knew how to handle myself. Your temerity alone illustrates precisely how _unready_ you are." Jenrya was beginning to lose his cool as well.

"You're being a hypocrite and that's all there is to it."

"You're incompetent and not even aware of it." Jenrya shook his head in disbelief. "Show some _respect_ for forces you can neither understand nor control!"

"Jenrya! Shuichon! Why are you two fighting?" Asked a bewildered voice from behind them both. They wheeled around at the same time to find Takato standing in the doorway wearing a simple white t-shirt and track shorts, his goggles absent upon his head. Shuichon turned on him as well.

"_Your friend_ wouldn't tell me anything that could relate to Lopmon!" Shuichon shouted before storming off to her room. Jenrya looked at him helplessly.

"Takato, I don't _know_ anything that could relate to Lopmon. Ruki is missing, dead for all we know, and that's all she could think of to say to me. What am I supposed to do with her?"

"I don't know, Jenrya. That's why I'm not a big brother; I would have been terrible." Takato tried to be helpful, but failed.

Jenrya made no reply for a while and let the unfortunate implications of Takato's words wash over him. Takato seemed to have caught it himself and opened his mouth to apologize. Jenrya cut him off.

"Come on, let's go."

* * *

**Shibuya Station**

"In times like these I wish people didn't exist." Kouji grumbled, having been pushed and shoved by a white collar in rush-hour traffic. Whenever he went out with his father they always drove. In truth Kouji would rather walk rather than take the subway if he could help it because something about unwanted physical contact with strangers always made him feel filthy and impure. Sometimes he fancied none of them had showered for a week because when he was pressed tightly against them and inhaling their exhales, they all stank.

"Kouji! Don't be such a hater." Izumi said.

"Somebody probably wishes you were nonexistent too." Kouichi said cheekily. "I do occasionally." Kouji punched him on the arm.

"Boys." Izumi rolled her eyes. The twins were then greeted with a familiar sight.

"This is the place." Kouichi remarked.

"No doubt about it." Kouji agreed. Only then did they noticed that the elevator was filled with mist, which began to leak into the station itself. "What the hell's going on there?"

Where the elevator should be, there was now an opaque fog and the whole station seemed to have been thrown into chaos. The superstitious types were watching in trepidation remembering the station's collapse three years ago, the curious types tried to see into the fog, and the sensible types didn't care _what_ it was- "FIRE!" was the only thing on their mind as they fled, even though it didn't smell at all like smoke. There was an eruption of hysterical fear as a tight mass of people tried to explode in all directions.

"_Kouji_?" Izumi lifted her head called out his name warily as though asking for instructions.

"I'm going in." He stated plainly.

"I'm going with you." Kouichi asserted, daring Kouji to protest. He didn't.

"I best come with you then." Izumi conceded.

"I want you two to run at the first sign of danger." Kouji warned.

"What will you do?" Izumi asked worriedly.

"Why, I will run, of course. I'm not _brave_ like Mr. Kanbara." Kouji said baldly.

He led the way and they trekked gingerly into the unknown. Kouji reached the wall and blindly fumbled around until he touched the elevator control panel, then he pressed the "down" button. The door slowly opened and he entered first, signaling for the others to stay put. Nothing more was heard of Kouji for the following two minutes; Izumi and Kouichi were about to panic when Kouji emerged, pure shock written across his face. He then nodded in affirmative, and the two teenagers entered as well.

It was strangely calm in the elevator, as though they were in the eye of some storm. In the middle stood a diminutive Digimon in kendo garb.

"You called us?" Kouji asked him without warmth in his voice.

"Yes. I'm Kotemon. They don't know I'm here yet, so we don't have much time." Kotemon moved aside, revealing a tiny speck of light that looked deeper than it should be. "Please, touch it."

"They? We? What's that supposed to mean?" Kotemon's vagueness had been wearing on Kouji ever since he first called him. "You call us here and-"

"Weren't you the one who said we ought to investigate?" Kouichi reminded him.

"I suppose I did."

"Well then." Kouichi touched the speck tentatively and seemed to shrink until he vanished completely.

"Let's go, then." Izumi said, and shrugged.

And they all stepped into the light.

* * *

The stainless steel elevator door opened and the two boys stepped out at the 37th floor. Directly ahead of them, a door was marked with the name tag "Yamaki Mitsuo", signalling to Takato and Jenrya they had found the right place. They knocked politely on the door and Lee Janyu, Jenrya's father, let them in. Yamaki's office got an upgrade when Hypnos went public, and he was now seated in a beautiful, brightly lit room that could have been decorated by Frank Lloyd Wright.

"Dad!" Jenrya greeted him, surprised but happy.

"Good afternoon, son." Janyu smiled fondly at his son.

"Good afternoon Mr. Lee, Mr. Yamaki." Takato said appropriately, bowing slightly to both of them. His flustered expresion made Jenrya smile. No matter how old he got or how brave he became, Takato would always be a little awkward. Yamaki stood up and walked over to them.

"Thanks for coming today. As you well know, the barrier has been disrupted and a bio-emergence is possible anyday now."

"_If_ it hasn't already happened and they somehow slipped past us." Janyu muttered darkly.

"But how is that possible, if you were monitoring all incoming and outgoing activities since the breach?" Jenrya asked.

"But we _haven't_. We weren't aware of the breach until ten days _after_ it had happened." Yamaki admitted, a hint of regret in his voice.

"Has Hypnos grown so lax?" Jenrya, on the other hand, was angry and appalled.

"_Lax_ isn't what I'd call it." Yamaki retorted, looking disgusted for some reason.

"The barrier was secure after D-Reaper; we didn't see the need." Janyu explained; Jenrya couldn't help noticed that his father, too, looked uneasy.

"So if you haven't been monitoring the Digital World," Takato spoke up for the first time, his wide, still-innocent eyes on the two men, "what _have_ you been doing all this time?"

Silence swept over the room as the two men looked at each other contemplating their next words, guilt written plainly on their faces. In this silence, heavy footsteps could be heard outside. The door burst open suddenly, and several black-suited men walked in.

"Matsumoto." Yamaki acknowledged the leader coolly.

"Yamaki Mitsuo, I see you're still in the business of revealing sensitive classified information to children." Matsumoto looked at Takato and Jenrya contemptuously.

"What's your point?" Yamaki asked. His tone was even, but his eyes burned with defiance.

"I'll cut to the chase then. Yamaki Mitsuo, you are under arrest for engineering the devastation of Shinjuku by means of enabling the entry of a massive lifeform."

The other men immediately apprehended Yamaki, who stood still.

"Mr. Matsumoto, there's got to be some mistake! Mr. Yamaki played a vital role in saving this city!"

"Mistake, Mr. Lee? Are you denying he did all of these things? If not, I would most _adamantly_ request your cooperation on this matter, or I might have you arrested too. _You, _sir, played no small part in the creation of said massive lifeform. _The law does not forget._ Take him away!" Matsumoto turned and walked out of the room. Janyu made to protest but one of the men shoved him roughly aside and he fell to the ground.

"Father!" Jenrya cried, and ran to his father, helping him up.

"Forget it, Mr. Lee. I had it coming." Yamaki said calmly.

"_Come_, bastard." One of his captors said, twisting Yamaki's arm roughly and leading him away. As he was forcibly marched out of his own office, Yamaki turned to face Takato.

"Takato. That palm pilot I gave you. You're going to need it."


	5. Labyrinth of the Demon

Kouji was not much of a dreamer and placed little importance on them. That didn't mean he _didn't_ dream- _everyone_ does, every night, he knew that, but for whatever reason it had been years since he last had one he remembered. He ofttimes wondered in passing whether that said something about him, but never for long, and never very seriously.

But he must be dreaming now because he was falling, he had been falling for what had seemed like hours, and there was no ground in sight. Unlike real falling, he knew, the air did not rush up to greet him and gnaw at his skin, nor did he feel the cruel lash of headwinds. He just... fell, accelerating at 9.8m/s^2 to a good fraction of the speed of light, he supposed. Seriously, though. It did not bother him; he decided he could get used to this. This was real freedom, true weightlessness, as close to an inertial reference frame as you are ever likely to get near the Earth in General Relativity.

Except this was not and could not be Earth, he suddenly realized as he jolted awake, a semi-spherical crater surrounding his body where he had impacted the soil. There was no air resistance, yet he could still breathe. And on Earth, he couldn't have survived the fall... Or _did_ he fall?

The first thing he noticed was that his backpack full of ropes and can openers and navigation tools was gone. So it wasn't a dream. Then he recalled everything: Izumi's call, the talk show, Kotemon. Maybe that all was a dream too; who can know after all? Maybe all that falling was a dream within a dream. When it came to dreaming Kouji was truly a novice, nor did he particularly want to get good at it. Consider what he'd gone through, it was all the same to him what was "real" and what was not. Red pill, blue pill*, he thought wryly.

"Kouji!" A girlish voice called out. That sounded real enough, Kouji thought with annoyance. He turned over on his back in his crater, spread out his limbs then sighed a lazy sigh. He was not ready to deal with the world right now, real or imaginary. Then he was greeted with the most _unusual_ sight: a turquoise sphere with data floating around it like planetary rings, dotted with craters spewing purple pillars.

"What _is_ that?" He wondered out loud, genuine surprise creeping into his voice for the first time in what seemed like years.

"Come on, brother, get up." Kouji glanced to the side and saw Kouichi, Izumi and Kotemon standing over his crater. He wasn't going to reply; he did as he was told.

"What's the plan, Kotemon?" Kouichi asked the little martial artist.

"There's a deserted village nearby with a transporter. It will take us straight the palace where the Great Angels are held." He replied, pointing in the direction behind them and began to walk.

"There sure is a lot of sand!" Izumi exclaimed, surveying the barren yellow landscape reminiscent of the Australian outback. "I don't remember being here."

"This is not the Digital World you're used to." Kotemon replied shortly.

"Is this a different world? Is there anything in particular we need to know?" Kouichi asked. Kotemon gave him a look.

"What exactly do you _want_ to know? It's no mean feat to summarize an entire world in a manageable duration of time, you know." Kotemon replied matter-of-factly, seeming determined to avoid speaking as much as possible. Kouichi looked about to speak, then closed his mouth again. There was so much that _could_ be relevant, and so much that seemed irrelevant, Kouji thought, he did not know where to begin.

"You still haven't told us what's going on." Kouichi pointed out.

"Can we talk about this after we've rescued the Great Angels?"

"Oy, you complexity addicts. Let's start with that thing up there." Izumi pointed to the turquoise sphere. "What on Earth is _that_?"

"That technically is not on _Earth_. It _is_ the human world." Came the bored response. Izumi look of irritation mirrored Kouji's own.

"And all the rings?" She countered.

"Data. The Network."

"And the purple things coming out of dents?" She tried harder.

"Data streams."

Kouji was not amused. "I have never met anybody who speaks while saying nothing at all."

"I'm not 'anybody'; I'm a Digimon, so your assessment is fair."

"What is their function?" Izumi cut in again.

"They send you random places in the Digital World. I would steer clear of them if I were you." Trying to get information from this guy was like pulling teeth, which did nothing to allay Kouji's suspicions of him.

"Are there any civilizations around here?" Kouichi asked pleasantly. Kotemon gave him an incredulous look.

"_No_." Kouichi raised his eyebrows at him, so he continued. "I _told_ you this isn't the Digital World you're used to. We're here."

It was a village with the strangest buildings. The cubical houses were rotated about 45 degrees; the lower vertex sunk into the ground. They were windowless huts made of dried Earth, with only a tiny door for an opening. They wandered into the dark interior and came upon an open box-like structure.

"Get in." Kotemon instructed, and they did. Suddenly, the walls began to shrink. Izumi shrieked in fright.

* * *

They sat around the dinner table while Janyu stirred his tea. Takato was agitated while Jenrya looked distressed.

"I'm sorry, son. I've kept things from you again." Janyu apologized.

"I can't pretend I'm happy about this, father." Jenrya replied. "But I trust you have your reasons. You always do. It's pointless to get angry at you."

"Thank you." If anything, he looked more pained than ever.

"Um. Mr. Lee? You haven't answered my question... What was Hypnos up to?" Takato asked, unable to hold in his curiosity any longer.

"As you know, there are agencies like Hypnos in every country. After the D-Reaper incident, delegates from around the world came together and almost unanimously agreed that the Digital World is a threat and had to be controlled. Japan has... Agreed to do her part." Janyu explicated, resignation in his voice.

"Con...trolled..." Takato repeated in disbelief.

"Entailing what, exactly? To what end?" Jenrya asked pointedly, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"Why do I have a feeling you know exactly what I'm about to say? Yes, Jenrya, meaning we will have absolute control over the barrier between the Digital World and the Material World. This is all I've been told. The rest are classified."

"And do you have _any_ idea what your work is doing to the Digital World? Have you considered it at all?" Jenrya was getting increasingly angry, all attempts at restraint gone. "How can you be a part of this?"

"Better us than someone else! Yamaki and I are doing all we can to lobby for their interests."

Jenrya sighed in frustration and shook his head. "No, no, NO! Look around you, father! People. Are. Disappearing. Hirokazu, Kenta, Ruki, Ryo, and god knows how many others! Digimon did this! They're _hunting_ us! And why would they, if it's not something on your end? Takato and I could be next! _Shuichon_ could be next! Don't you care? Why do you people _always_ start things without thinking it through?"

"I had no choice. I thought..." Janyu stammered, burying his head in his hands. Jenrya stood up abruptly, both hands on the table, ready to leave.

"Jenrya!" Takato admonished, putting a hand on his shoulder. Jenrya removed his hand wordlessly and walked over to the couch, refusing to look at his father.

"Blaming your dad isn't going to solve anything. We need to hear him out! There must be something we can do!" Janyu looked up slowly- guilt written all over his face. He was astounded and grateful that Takato was not yelling at him. He has every right, Janyu thought.

"You need to go to the Digital World and find your partners. We'll need their help. And try to find out what's going on. We'll stay in touch via the pager and with any luck, we can build an Ark in case you can't get back. With the barrier unstable, there should be plenty of gates you can use."

"And me?" Shuichon's voice interrupted the conversation. Nobody had noticed that she had come out of her room and was listening intently. Jenrya turned around to scold her, but Janyu beat him to it.

"You'll stay with me. It won't be safe." Janyu replied, his tone firmer than before.

"I will be safer with Antiramon than I will ever be with you." She pointed out.

"We don't know when we'll find them, and you'll only slow us down." Jenrya cut in. Now both father and son faced the youngest member of the family, agreeing on something at last.

"You'll be perfectly safe in Hypnos. There's no place safer." Janyu promised.

"You mean I'll live like a prisoner in that hellhole! Why do you all think I'm helpless?" Shuichon held out her Queen Device card, a token of gratitude from the Legendary Tamer for saving his life. "Doesn't this prove I'm as capable as any of you?" Jenrya cursed Ryo for feeding his sister's ego.

"You have no idea how dangerous it is, do you? Does the fact that Ryo himself disappeared mean anything to you?" Jenrya said, his face turning red. By that point the argument had attracted the attention of the whole family, and everyone came into the living room. Mayumi, her mother, walked out of the master bedroom to stand beside her husband.

"You're not going, and that's final." She glared at her daughter, who glared back.

"I'm sorry, Shuichon. I know how much this means to you." Janyu said gently.

"No, you don't. None of you do. I'm sick of talking to you." Angry tears were falling from her face. Once again, she walked into her room and slammed the door. Janyu sat back down and Mayumi wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Jenrya walked to the window, too stressed to speak, and Takato went with him, trying to calm him down.

"I'm going to take care of Shuichon." Eighteen-year-old Jaarin whispered to Mayumi, who nodded.

* * *

"Ugh! Who owns this place?" Izumi was disgusted as they waded through swaths of slime through the hallway. She couldn't believe she was stuck with this crowd. Kouji and Kouichi barely said anything at all, and Kotemon was silent as night.

"This is the palace of GranKuwagamon, called 'Demon of the Deep Forest'. You'd best take it seriously." Kotemon supplied.

"You call this a palace?" Izumi said incredulously. "What does he want with the Great Angels?"

"_He_ doesn't want anything. As far as I know he's merely a lackey. For whom, we're still trying to find out." Kouji suddenly turned his head and looked at Kotemon intently, as though recalling something.

"Why us? Why you?" Izumi continued.

"Because according to our intelligence, the palace's defenses are meant to detect intruders of Adult level and above. I am a Child level Digimon, and as for you, you _are_ children."

"You keep saying 'we'. Who's this 'we'?" Kouji asked. For the first time, Kotemon looked shifty.

"I'll explain later."

"See that you do." Kouji glowered at him and turned away in annoyance. They kept walking for a time and happened upon a spiraling staircase.

"Watch yourself on these steps", Kotemon whispered. "This is the entrance to the castle proper. Don't touch any cocoons, or we might be found out."

They started to climb the steps and sure enough, hundreds of cocoons hung from the ceiling- some higher, some lower. Some were so low that they would have to crawl up the steps, which were covered in slime. All three children looked perturbed at what they had to do because they didn't bring a lot of extra clothes. I'm taking a shower after this, thought Izumi. If this stupid place even has showers! Suddenly, Kouichi yelped and he began to slip. In an effort to steady himself, he used his feet to give a lower step a mighty push, and rammed headfirst into the cocoon directly above.

"Kouichi!" The other two kids cried at the exact same time. Kotemon whipped out his wooden sword.

"Grab this!" Kotemon said, and Kouichi caught himself. But it was too late. The cocoon glowed yellow and the shell melted. A Kunemon pushed himself out.

"Thunder Kote!" Kotemon's sword buzzed with electricity and he slashed at the Kunemon before the insect could gather himself. He instantly exploded into red data bits as Izumi watched on, horrified.

"Where's the Digitama?" She puzzled, as the bits dispersed into thin air.

"Digimon don't come back to life in this world." Kotemon replied. "We must hurry; the other Kunemon will wake up soon." Sure enough, the other cocoons flared up. "Quickly!"

The four scrambled up the stairs, cocoons be damned. They reached the landing and Kotemon slammed the heavy wooden door behind them. Behind them, they heard hundreds of Kunemon slam into the door. Kotemon turned around and waved his sword, muttering a few words under his breath, and they felt the atmosphere visibly thicken and the door glowed blue.

"What did you do?" Kouichi asked.

"A spell. It strengthened the door but won't keep them out forever. We have about five minutes before they break it down. Hurry!"

How does a child level digimon know a protective spell? Izumi asked herself silently. She decided it didn't matter. She looked around her: the room was an empty nursery. They all ran for the nearest door and Kotemon instructed them to all stand with their backs against the wall, "in case any Flymon are in the next hallway." They edged closer to the door, and Kotemon swiftly bumped it open with his sword. The hallway was thankfully empty, but that didn't mean they could make noise. They walked quietly through the hallway whose roof was dripping wet. There were endless doors on either side of the walls as they walked and Kotemon guided the kids through one of them, again, gingerly nudging the door open with his sword.

Almost instantly, they were greeted with an abrasive buzzing.

"Flymon!" Kouji shouted. "Get down!" They all dropped to the floor and narrowly avoided Flymon's blind assault.

"You go ahead!" Kotemon shouted back. "I'll take care of him!" He was already very busy with the Flymon, who swung low for the little swordsman and barely missing a critical strike. "Thunder Kote!"

"You sure?" Izumi called nervously.

"Yes! You can't do much good here! Go through that door into the dome, and try to get through the door at 11 o'clock without waking up Okuwamon!"

They scrambled to do as he said, but before they had gotten to the opposite door, Kouichi turned and looked back worriedly at Kotemon, for whom Flymon was more than a match.

"We have to help him!" He whispered, more to himself.

"GET THROUGH THAT DOOR!" Kotemon ordered.

"No!" Grabbing a jagged rock on the floor, Kouichi hurled it towards Flymon with all his strength. Izumi thought her eardrums were splitting by the agonized screech Flymon emitted. In Flymon's moment of distraction, Kotemon aimed a jolt of electricity right at his core. He dissolved into particles of red grain and vanished into thin air.

"Kotemon! Are you hurt?" Kouichi asked with genuine concern, as Kotemon was limping slightly.

"It's nothing. You should have run!" Kotemon said angrily. Kouichi opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Finally, he closed it, his cheeks flushing red. He walked towards the door without a word. They arrived at a dome, just as Kotemon said, and in the middle of the dome, a monster of an Okuwamon slumbered. They treaded silently through the dome and entered the door at 11 o'clock. Inside the door was another tunnel that led directly to a shining orb.

"What's that?" Izumi asked Kotemon.

"That's the prison trapping the Great Angels so they wouldn't hatch. Go and reach into the light. You should be able to free them. The castle's defenses won't register you. I'll guard the entrance." Kotemon instructed.

Izumi regarded the yellow sphere with a strange fascination. She reached her arm inside cautiously and felt a round object. Puzzled, she pulled it out. It was the size of an ostrich egg, yet she instinctively knew what slept inside was no ostrich.

"They're eggs!" She exclaimed, as Kouji and Kouichi each claimed an egg.

"GranKuwagamon thought they would be easier to manage if they were in their lowest, insentient forms. Clever, if I do say so myself." Kotemon remarked without passion.

"But that's... Horrible! Did he kill them?" Izumi hugged the egg to herself.

"No. Merely torture them until they ran out of energy. Killing them would have been unwise, valuable as they are, because Digimon do not come back in this world. We need to leave now. The exit is nearby. Follow me." Kotemon motioned with his hand "Remember to mind Okuwamon."

They quietly closed the door behind them as they left.

"Three doors down to the left." Kotemon whispered. "That door will lead straight outside."

They went to the designated door. Before they could open it, however, a thunderous buzzing burst into the dome.

"Kunemon!" Kotemon said, alarmed. Okuwamon roared to life and made for the group.

"What are you waiting for? GO! The Great Angels need you!" He turned around as though to face the Perfect level monstrosity.

"What should we do with them?" Kouji shouted.

"Keep them safe! Help them evolve! That's all you can do at any rate."

"What about you?" Kouichi screamed at Kotemon over the din. Kotemon chuckled without merriment.

"I will pay my dues." He answered cryptically before pushing all three of them through the door. Before the it slammed shut, they saw Okuwamon descend upon the swordsman, who exploded into a galaxy of brilliant red fireworks, causing the Okuwamon to roar in pain. The last of his energy made the door glow blue.

***Look up "Red pill and blue pill" on Wikipedia. I really like this analogy lol. I imagined that Kouji, being the philosophical type, would think about things like this. Maybe he's even watched _The Matrix._**

**Note: Apologies about the delay. Still would like some more reviews. I'm really a beginner and have no idea what or how I'm doing. Some feedback would be nice. Like, is it too "dark"? I just write things as they come to me and have no interest in "Darker and Edgier", though I have equal disinterest in "everything works out and everyone gets what they want". I am admittedly a little inspired by A Song of Ice and Fire series, but really don't enjoy killing off main characters just to prove they can be killed.**


	6. The Queen and the Fallen Angel

"KOTEMON!" Kouichi yelled after the closed door, in shock. Izumi dropped to her knees and sobbed, hugging the egg to her. Kouji watched the door apprehensively, unsure of how much time to give the other two children. As the pounding became louder, signaling that the door was going to break down, he decisively put his right hand on Kouichi's shoulder, holding his egg with the left.

"We need to get to the transporter!" He enjoined urgently. Kouichi looked at his brother, still bewildered by the turn of events, but nevertheless had enough sense to nod slowly. He kneeled and wrapped his arms around Izumi's shoulders, whispering in her ears. Izumi, tears streaming down her cheeks, nodded and stood up. They ran as fast as they could toward the transporter, which was still buried in a pond 100 meters from the backdoor they'd used to enter the palace, well into the forest. It wasn't until Kouji had reached the forest clearing that he heard Kouichi shouting for him.

"Something's up with Izumi's egg!" Kouichi informed him. Kouji turned to discover Izumi struggling to keep the cracking egg together.

"You two go ahead! I'll take care of him." Izumi told them, but her voice betrayed her nervousness.

"It'll be okay!" Kouichi tried to reassure her.

"Try letting it go." Kouji suggested, walking back in her direction. She looked outraged at the notion, looking for all the world like a mother bear.

"Are you kidding?"

"No! Keep this up and they'll catch us! It's trying to hatch and you're not doing it any favors!"

She couldn't hold on if she'd tried. The egg dissolved and exploded into a microscopic golden supernova. It was then Kouji noticed that his own egg was cracking. A puppy-like digimon emerged from Kouji's egg.

"Kouji, it's been a long time." Plotmon said warmly. Kouji nodded toward her.

"Kouji! Mine's hatching!" Kouichi shouted. A purple flash later, Lopmon, in the flesh, stood facing Kouichi.

"Hello, Kouichi, we meet again." Lopmon smiled brightly. Buzzing was heard behind them.

"Oh no!" Izumi gasped in horror as a Flymon emerged from the trees, aiming straight for her. She put up her arms as though to brace herself and closed her eyes, waiting for certain death.

"IZUMI!" Both boys shouted her name at the same time. She screamed, curling into a ball on the grass.

"AIR SHOT!" Something detonated above her into Flymon's head, who screeched in pain and backed away.

"Patamon!" Kouji said breathlessly, and Kouichi smiled in relief. Patamon grinned back, clearly glad to see them.

"Let me take care of that guy!" He said cheerfully. "AIR SHOT!" Flymon howled wrathfully and attempted to pin down the child level digimon. Patamon ducked clumsily, slamming into the ground in the process.

"Patamon!" Izumi called in panic. As Flymon prepared to impale the tiny digimon, she jumped in front of him, prepared to shield him with her body. In that moment, a tiny glob of light descended between them, blinding the Flymon. The twins' eyes were wide as saucers as they watched the scene unfold before them. The light materialized into a small, silver device with orange rim, buttons and strap. As Izumi marveled at it, Flymon had apparently recovered and prepared to strike once again.

"Izumi! Watch out!" Kouichi yelled to her in warning.

"Leave it to me! Petit Twister!" A mighty tornado from behind them slammed into the Flymon's back, crippling his wings. As the wind died down, a diminutive horned creature with long, green-striped ears landed on the ground, reading to strike again. He looked like Lopmon, Kouji thought. The three teenagers instinctively looked back towards the hill and to their collective astonishment, saw her.

On the top of the hill stood a girl cloaked in ivory, her long, straight red hair flowing free to the middle of her back. Underneath her trench coat, she wore a schoolgirl's navy sailor fuku and a white kerchief around her collar. Slung across her back was a long, black trapezoidal case.

* * *

"Who... is _that_?" Kouji asked suspiciously.

"That's..." Izumi inhaled sharply, clutching the tiny device in her right hand, watching the girl with what seemed like recognition.

"I didn't know there were other kids here." Kouichi said.

The girl ignored them and walked down the hill in a measured pace. She held a silver device identical to Izumi's except in a blue scheme.

"Flymon, Adult, Insect type." She said quietly, reading the holographic display hovering above the screen. "Terriermon, concentrate your attack on the thorax." The white creature known as Terriermon nodded.

"Blazing fire!" He said, shooting green energy blasts from his mouth right at the immobilized insect. However, the majority of his attack slammed into the insect's face, and an eardrum-splitting screech resounded throughout the clearing.

"I said the _thorax_!" The girl hissed furiously.

"I know. I know." This time his aim was true, and Flymon predictably disintegrated into red data bits. "I was just having a bit of fun!" Terriermon turned to the girl, crossing his arms, and grinned toothily, clearly satisfied with himself.

"This isn't a game!" Came the reprimand.

"Hey hey hey, Ruki, moumentai. He's dead, isn't he?" Terriermon's black, beady eyes were insolent. Ruki did not deign to respond to an obviously rhetorical question. He lost interest in the conversation and surveyed his surroundings. "Oh heeeeelloooooo Lopmon!" He greeted confidently.

"Erm." Lopmon was taken aback by his brashness, blushing dark red.

"Good evening, Kou-i-chi! You've been to Jenrya's house, remember?"

Kouichi nonplussed expression at being addressed morphed into recognition. "I know you! You're the stuffed toy Lee-kun carries on his back!"

"Oy, oy. I'm no toy. You humans..." Terriermon slapped his forehead in frustration.

"Hey , I'm sorry!" Kouichi laughed merrily, patting Terriermon on the head, who promptly grinned again, jumping on Kouichi's shoulders. "I'm just really used to you as a stuffed toy, especially because all the guys stopped talking to Lee-kun when he started bringing you to school."

"Excuse me?" Izumi's voice cut in tentatively. "Your name is Ruki? Makino Ruki?"

"Who are you and how do you know my name?" Ruki asked coolly. Kouji wanted to ask the same thing. And if Izumi knew Makino Ruki, why didn't she tell them?

"My name is Orimoto Izumi and my uncle... My uncle, he's..." Izumi hesitated for some reason, her words froze on her tongue.

"Your uncle is irrelevant. Answer my question." Ruki's tone was hard.

"I... I heard about you in the news. They showed a picture of you." Izumi said quickly. No, they didn't, Kouji recalled. A lie, then. But why? Izumi's behavior was becoming increasingly inexplicable. Ruki nodded curtly.

"And you." She addressed Kouji directly, unflinchingly initiating eye contact. Something about her attitude irked Kouji. Is that what he always projected to other people?

"Not your business." He said equally cuttingly, challenging her with his dark eyes. Ruki shrugged nonchalantly, her violet eyes placid.

"Hey, be nice!" Izumi pleaded with the both of them. Neither acknowledged her.

"Suit yourself." Ruki began to walked away. Her brusque dismissal angered him even more.

"More of them!" Kouichi warned. The tell-tale buzzing flared up again. Ruki turned to look at Izumi.

"You're a tamer, aren't you?"

"Um..."

"Let me see that." Izumi held out the orange device, and Ruki held out her own. "You have a D-Ark. Get ready, tamer." Three more Flymon approached, stingers ready. "Card slash!" Ruki ordered. Izumi looked lost.

"Here, use this! Put it through the slot!" Ruki reached into the leather case clipped on her skirt and pulled out a card. Izumi took the card.

"Card Slash! Super Evolution Plug-In S!" As the card slid across the slot in the D-Ark, a golden haze wrapped around Patamon. The light of evolution.

"Patamon evolve to Angemon!" The haze dissipated and a handsome young man with six feathered wings rose out of the light, golden hair blowing in the wind. He was holding a gleaming staff and his aura pulsated with blinding white energy. Izumi looked starstruck and Kouichi was stupefied. Plotmon and Lopmon regarded Angemon with admiration. Kouji took a step forward to reassure himself it really happened. Help them evolve, Kotemon had said. So that's what he meant.

Angemon dove headfirst toward the Flymon, breaking their formation. With a swing of his staff, Angemon struck one of them and it fell to the side, whining wretchedly.

"You take care of him, Terriermon!" He then went after the other two. Ruki cross her arms.

"Double typhoon to the thorax, Terriermon, Lopmon!" Ruki commanded forcefully.

"Roger, roger! Come on, Lopmon, let's do this." He exhorted.

"Huh?" Lopmon, having recently been born, looked at him in confusion.

"There, there. It's easy. Do what I do." Terriermon began spinning in place. Lopmon tried to imitate him but tripped and fell on his side. Across from them, the Flymon had regained his composure and went on the assault.

"Poison Powder!" Flymon unleashed a purple cloud towards them. It smelled of putrefaction. Terriermon, who was standing in front, began to cough.

"Terriermon!" Lopmon said, horrified. "Terriermon, are you okay?" Still struggling with the poison in his body, Terriermon coughed some more but nodded.

"Moumentai..." Cough. "Let's take down this bully together!" Lopmon nodded vehemently.

"DOUBLE TYPHOON!" Twin twisters shot toward the insect, dispersing the toxic fog and impacted him in the thorax. A critical hit. With a baleful scream, Flymon imploded.

"God Typhoon!" Shouted Angemon, spinning his staff and creating a gale with such force that it dazed one of the Flymon completely. He rounded on the second Flymon.

"Halo Attack!" Angemon drew a halo above its head, rendering it unable to move. Before Kouji's eyes, Flymon was sliced in half and its data rose into the air.

"Heaven's Knuckles!" Angemon punched towards the fallen Flymon and a burst of orange energy shot towards the hapless creature, destroying it. Their troubles were apparently over.

"Okuwamon..." Plotmon whimpered frightfully, as the sky darkened with a diabolical shadow.

"Damn! They just keep coming!" Kouji cursed. Izumi's D-Ark suddenly reacted and a holographic screen beamed from the display. She looked at it curiously and read outloud:

"Okuwamon, Perfect, Insect Type." Angemon flew into action.

"Heaven's Knuck-" But Okuwamon was quicker.

"Scissor Arms Omega!" He extended his scissor-like claws and hit Angemon across the waist with one, catching him in another as though to slice the angel apart. Angemon glowed white, shrunk, and Patamon plummeted out of the sky, unconscious. Izumi gasped, running blindly toward Patamon and his impact knocked her onto the grass. She gathered him into her arms and called his name desperately.

"And now, you're finished." Okuwamon said to the pair, his voice thick with malice.

"You're quite a big talker for a pathetic little bug." Came an arrogant voice from above. "Death Slinger!" An enormous blast of magenta energy caught Okuwamon full in the face, and when it had faded, there was no trace of the giant insect. A fallen angel digimon with baleful dark wings hovered in the sky. Clad all in leather, he wore a half-mask with three slits for his triple green eyes.

"Heh." He chuckled superciliously, blowing a wisp of smoke from the overheated blaster extending out of his arm. Izumi's D-Ark beeped again. Beelzebumon Blast Mode, Ultimate, Virus, Demon Lord. She barely glanced at it.

"Show-off." Ruki looked miffed.

"Jealous, girlie?" He descended and smiled taunting at Ruki, baring his long, sharp canines.

"I told you to stay behind that hill. And don't you ever call me 'girlie' again!"

"And you would've had your _royal_ ass handed to you, your _royal_ highness." Another pet name she loathed. He degenerated into a wickedly mischievous child digimon in the form of an imp.

Cradling the wounded Patamon, Izumi stood up tiredly. "Come on, guys, let's get to the transporter before more of them get here." She suggested, all energy gone from her voice.

Kouji and Kouichi nodded their assent.

**Note: This certainly wasn't my favorite chapter to date, and wasn't much fun to write. I tend not to do well with action-packed scenes and was about to put it off, but I'd have to face it eventually. I hope it wasn't too contrived. On the other hand, a lot happened and we start to see some leadership qualities in Izumi, so I hope you liked that part.**


	7. Brothers and Sisters

The 17-year-old concertmaster walked out of the practice room, a pretty girl hanging off his arm. He had placid blue eyes, strawberry blond hair and comely features. Ichikawa Katsurou had the proud bearing of an heir of a shipping magnate and the long-suffering expression of one accustomed to media attention. Upon noting the reporter, the girl merely scowled. The minute Ichikawa stepped into the hallway, Fujimoto moved to accost him.

"Here we have Ichikawa Katsurou, concertmaster of Tokyo Junior Philharmonic Orchestra, Japan's most prestigious youth music group and Makino Ruki's fellow violinist. Mr. Ichikawa, how have you and your fellow musicians reacted to the associate concertmaster's unfortunate disappearance?" Fujimoto asked, shoving the megaphone into the boy's face. Katsurou seemed to have something in his eye for a split second and blinked furiously, shrinking away.

"We all miss her desperately; our sound just isn't the same without her." He said, forcing kindness into his voice.

"What do you think of the running theory?"

Katsurou had to laugh. "What? She eloped with Akiyama Ryo? Not a chance. Our director doesn't suffer absences and she wants my job too much! She's… driven, let's just say."

"Are you saying there's a rivalry between the two of you?"

"Of course!" He smiled mischievously, no doubt making many girls sigh with pleasure in front of the TV screen. "It's all in good will though. We're good friends off the stage." He looked expectantly at something off screen. Finding it, he apologized and pushed past the reporter, the girl scowling even harder.

She walked faster and faster as they reached the streets to wait for the boy's limousine, practically dragging him along with her.

"Hey, slow down! What's the matter?" He tried to calm his girlfriend, who was the orchestra's Principal Clarinet.

"We all miss her desperately? Our sound just isn't the same without her? Are you kidding me? Since when did a first violin make that much of a difference?" She blurted out. Katsurou rolled his eyes.

"What should I have done? Piss on her in front of the press at a time like this?"

"How about not being a fake in public? She treats you like dirt!" Her anger towards the Makino girl was burning near the surface.

"Look... I know you don't like her. I don't like her either. But shouldn't we wish her well anyway?"

"Whatever. I just hope they find a replacement before she turns up by some miracle. Everyone in your section hates her." Katsurou crossed his arms and studied her silently, frowning deeper as time passed.

"What?" She demanded, defensiveness on her pretty face.

"I don't like what you're implying, Megumi." He said, and let go of her hand.

* * *

_"We're good friends off the stage.__"_

Makino Rumiko turned off the television and began sobbing, her mother's arms around her.

* * *

Pluck, pluck, pluck, went Ruki's violin in the darkness.

"Watch this. Night of Fire!" Impmon flung two small balls of flame at the pile of wood, which roared to life.

"That's really cool, Impmon!" Izumi praised him gratefully, her clear green eyes shining with the reflection of the fire. The twin boys sat around the campfire too, talking inaudibly.

Pluck, pluck, pluck. The A-String was sharp. A good distance away from the rest of the group, Ruki adjusted a black knob, which was somewhat stuck. Remember to oil it when you get home, she told herself. _If_ you get home… She groaned inwardly. You'd better get the concerto together in case Ichikawa jumps into a lake or something. What a pity for you Ichikawa is the furthest thing from suicidal. Stupid, spoiled brat who wanted for nothing. _Creeek_. She had turned the knob too hard, now the entire string came loose. Damn it!

She'd always fantasized about Ichikawa somehow messing up, from missing rehearsal to neglecting to practice to mouthing off the director, but he'd never do any of these things. If only Ichikawa would ship his ass off some deserted island on his daddy's boat, Ruki would be concertmaster.

He reminded her nauseatingly of another boy she couldn't measure up to: Akiyama Ryo. Except this boy was extraordinarily handsome, immensely popular with both kids and adults alike, and his parents' money could buy out a small country. Ruki wished she could say his parents bought him this position by offering the orchestra egregious sums, but no, he had auditioned anonymously and won _her_ prize fair and square. After the previous concertmaster had left, Ruki would by all rights be promoted to fill the vacancy, but out of nowhere came this Ichikawa kid who already made a name for himself as a child prodigy when he debuted playing Sibelius's Violin Concerto in D Minor with the TSO* at age 12. All he had to do was play his signature piece, and the director was sold.

He had the gall to call _her_ a prodigy too. "You're only fourteen! Look at how perfect your technique is!" He would say. If only he knew- and he probably knew, come to think of it- that she practiced obsessively. Precocious genius had little to do with it. What a phony. He had fooled everyone in the orchestra with his Mr. Perfect act, but he was not fooling her. And it was very clever of him anyway, praising her impeccable, exacting technique. Musicality. Nobody ever extolled her musicality, and musicality was how Ichikawa, though his technique was not flawless, had people fawning over him, among his other superficial charms.

Having lost all mood to practice, she glanced over to the trio sitting around the fire. They didn't look like such a tight group, thankfully. But still, why did she ever agree to come with them? They'd only slow her down. The girl, Orimoto Izumi, caught her eye and smiled encouragingly, but Ruki sniffed and proceeded to wind her A-String back. What else could she do, anyway?

* * *

"Do you know her from somewhere, Izumi?" Kouichi was curious, noting the eye contact between the two girls, and Izumi looked sheepish.

"Sorry for not telling you earlier." She apologized sincerely.

"It's okay. Nobody knew it was going to be relevant." He said kindly.

"She's my cousin, actually. My uncle is her dad."

"Then how does she not know who you are?" Kouji cut in.

"We haven't seen each other in years. The last time I saw her, I was four, I think. Then I went to Germany and her parents got divorced so there wasn't any reason to talk about her. My mom told me about her earlier today when we were watching the news. We might have been pretty close because I spent a lot of time with her when we were kids."

"I see…" Kouichi mused. "Why didn't you tell her?"

"She's so… intimidating! And how do you break to someone you just met you're related? She'd call me an idiot, probably." Izumi said, shrugging helplessly. They watched the fire silently for a few minutes.

"It worked out with me and Kouji."

"That's hardly the same thing. You're twins! You know, I got really jealous of Kouji when you came along. I've always wanted a sibling. I used to move all the time, and now I'm going to move again. I just wish I had someone who'd always be there for me..." Izumi said wistfully and had a faraway look about her.

"And now you have her." Kouichi pointed out. He was right, of course, but they're hardly sisters.

"She doesn't want to talk to me! She probably hates me already."

"Look, it wasn't easy between the two of us either. You just have to let it develop."

"We need to talk to her." Kouji interjected suddenly, not at all eager to hear Kouichi analyze their relationship.

"I don't think she wants to come over." Countered Kouichi.

"Too bad. This is serious. She's going to suck it up." Kouji answered curtly.

"Watch it, bro. Her highness is touchy." Quipped Impmon. "Piss her off and she won't come back."

"Hmph." Was Kouji's only response.

"Ruki?" Izumi called. "Can we talk to you?"

Startled at being addressed, Ruki looked up in vexation from fingering her violin.

"I'd rather not. And don't 'Ruki' me, Orimoto-san." Ruki balked at Izumi's overly familiar address. Izumi felt foolish being so forward, even if they _were_ cousins. Nobody told Ruki after all.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to be rude."

"Forget about it."

"Makino-san, we need your help." Kouichi said politely. Given how withdrawn Kouichi was, he had a way of getting people to like him, even people as sullen and moody as Ruki. She sighed and nodded reluctantly, joining the campfire at last.

"Well?" She asked impatiently.

"First things first. How do we get any food?" Kouji spoke up first.

"Here? You don't need any. Just stop thinking about it and you won't be hungry."

"Are you pulling my leg?"

"Hardly. Are you done being a smart-ass, Mr. Not-your-business?" Ruki shot back sharply.

Impmon was right, Izumi thought. Ruki looked _this_ close to getting up and leaving. She must diffuse the tension right away. Kouji could be an imbecile sometimes.

"Look, Kouji, why don't you take a break for the rest of this conversation?" Kouichi got there before her. Kouji scowled and turned away.

"My name is Kouichi. Kimura Kouichi. Nice to meet you, Makino-san." Kouichi said brightly, offering her his hand. Ruki's expression softened just slightly, but did not take it.

"Spare me the niceties, Kimura-kun. Get to the point."

"A number of children have disappeared from Tokyo. Do you know anything about what happened to them? Are they all here?"

"People disappear for all kinds of reasons. Why should I know anything about that?"

"Because, well, _you're_ one of many."

"I haven't seen any other humans here."

"And… What about Akiyama Ryo?" He asked cautiously. She looked visibly taken aback.

"Ryo? _Akiyama Ryo?_"

"Yes, the one known as the Legendary Tamer."

"Did he disappear too?"

"As far as we know, he vanished in the morning on the same day as you. I'm sorry. I understood you two are close." But Ruki only looked confused for a second before deciding.

"_No_." She said fervently. "But if Akiyama matters to you, if he'd disappeared he's most likely here, just like last time, if he's not half dead in some sewer. Last I heard he'd become a raving drunkard."

"Ruki-san!" Izumi remembered something. "Two kids who disappeared turned up dead this morning. Their names were… I didn't catch their names…" But Kouji did.

"Shiota Hirokazu and Kitagawa Kenta."

Ruki froze and Terriermon gasped. Kouichi put a hand on her shoulder.

"Makino-san… Did you know them?" A long, insufferable pause, as she sat stunned.

"They were my…" She couldn't decide on her next word and closed her eyes, as though she could wish the nightmare away. "my friends…"

"I'm sorry, Ruki-san. I'm _so_ sorry." Izumi tried to comfort her with a hug. Ruki suddenly came back to her senses.

"Don't _touch_ me." She hissed and roughly shoved her arms off. She stood up and walked away without another word.

***Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.**

**Note****: A fairly uneventful and introspective chapter, yet some things did happen. I'm still not sure I like how Ruki had turned out (but I _finally_ got to write her!), given her development in _Tamers_, but I loved writing in her voice because she's my favorite character and the one I most relate to in the entire franchise. I just wasn't sure how she'd react to being stuck with a group of complete strangers, but I supposed she wouldn't be overly friendly. Anyway, hope it was decent. Reviews are highly appreciated.**


	8. Sleepless Paralysis

Hirokazu and Kenta were dead. Ruki didn't know what to feel. In truth, she felt nothing but numbness and white noise, and her lack of feeling, on a completely unrelated note, had often gotten her into trouble. Her paternal grandmother passed away when she was five years old, her grandmother, who had showered her with affection and gifts, and "white noise" was the only thing she heard at her funeral. She did not weep, and that caused all sorts of unpleasantness with her relatives. Did Ruki love her grandmother? She thought so; more than she did her mother anyway. She should care more. After all, she was apoplectic when Leomon died, and she'd barely known him back then; their meeting had been so recent.

She wept once when her father left. That day in the park, she recalled in disgust. She ran after him like a little fool, but he wouldn't come back. After that, Ruki needed no one. But as it so often happens, if you need no one, then naturally no one needs you, no one but those biologically hardwired to need you anyway, ie. her mother. But even Makino Rumiko didn't have much need of Ruki; she was plenty happy with that vapid, superficial career of hers. Her boyfriends were all she needed, and she tried many times to get Ruki to call them "father", then "uncle", then she gave up, as she could not get Ruki to acknowledge them at all.

If everyone is "no one" to you, then you're "no one" to everyone: it's perfectly reciprocal, and it's pointless to pretend you're strong, important and independent when you have no friends and no family. Reciprocity is the fabric of social existence. At school, girls only noted her existence as the daughter of Makino Rumiko the supermodel. In Digimon circles, she was the "Digimon Queen", famed for her brutal and aggressive style of play. No one cared for what was inside Makino Ruki, and surreptitiously, one day she woke up to find there was nothing left of Makino Ruki. She had become something less than human.

But less is more, and so Ruki transcended humanity. She was now a machine, free from human cares and superior in every way. The whole world existed to validate her superiority. Even Renamon. Renamon needed her. She did not want her, that much was clear. If Renamon could evolve without Ruki, she wouldn't seek her out in the first place. It was a new frontier. Ruki was at the top of her class, the best in her age group at the Digimon card game and an expert violinist. She didn't think she was particularly good at any of these endeavors, but more and more she'd come to learn that the rest of the world was spectacularly horrible. Truth be told, she was disgusted by any standard of achievement lower than her own. She needed something bigger, more challenging, to prove her abilities. Her best always became her minimum acceptable standard.

But who was she kidding? She needed Renamon as well. She needed someone to obey her without question and grovel at her. If nothing else, she needed Renamon to show her she mattered, even if on a purely practical level. It felt good to be needed in this capacity by one of the Digital World's best fighters; it told her she was capable, the most competent Tamer in the world. It was neat and convenient, this mutual need. That persisted until they met Takato and Jenrya. Then things became complicated: Renamon wanted her, or in other words, wanted her in an emotional capacity. She was no longer a walking evolution trigger to the fox, but a partner, a friend, even. For someone who had existed for years as a merciless fighting machine, she sure changed her tune fast. Ruki was nonplussed by her partner- no, avatar's new attitude. She just couldn't get used to it. She had become more human than Ruki even though she was a Digimon. She'd turned into one of them, the lower beings who let emotions confound everything.

One day, however, Kyuubimon happened and the rest, as they say, was history. Ruki saw something in herself that day that shouldn't exist, and it wasn't until Harpymon did she figure out what it was. Her ideal relationship of mutual benefits with Renamon had not existed for a long time by that point, yet her subconscious had fought the change tooth and nail. The change had probably happened to both of them at around the same time, yet Renamon saw it and didn't question it. Instead she wanted to know what it meant, to Ruki's horror and contempt. Maybe everything was so new to her she decided one new experience wasn't that much. But emotions were old news to Ruki, and she had sworn off it long ago like a recovering alcoholic.

When she lost Renamon the day D-Reaper was defeated, she took it the hardest of all of them. It was like someone had ripped the carpet out from under her and she saw only void; she literally didn't know how to face the future without Renamon, the first to understand her, even before her own mother, her oldest (nary a year) and closest confidante. Ruki didn't have much of an emotional past, and now even that was taken from her. For years she avoided all contact with "Digimon" because it was too jarring for her. She had nothing to do with it aside from carrying her deck and D-Ark around with her like a talisman. She needed to be ready, she thought, even if she would never see Renamon again. In an odd way it brought her comfort to live like this. Her friends saw her pain, ached for her, but could do nothing.

Ruki resumed being achievement-obsessed as a way to keep her mind off her loss, and her stint in the orchestra took over her life. Slowly but surely, she reverted back to her old outlook: that emotions were dangerous. Look at what happened when she trusted in them again! Her old way of life was better, easier, if not necessarily happy, but who needs happiness anyway? Like drugs, it only needed to be experienced once, she rationalized. When she came across a digital gate on her way to orchestra practice, she reacted like a stamp collector who'd encountered an extremely rare piece on sale yet knew he could not afford it. But if he did not do it now, he would miss it forever, but if he did it, he would lose a hefty portion of his savings. Like a good stamp collector, Ruki knew she shouldn't, that it might undo everything she had been working for, but the excitement and longing induced by the gate was too great. She leapt through with her violin in tow to remind her every minute thereafter that she had sorely disappointed the orchestra director. She might even be replaced, for all she knew. Stupid emotions. At least her superstitious talisman-carrying behavior had come to some good.

Hirokazu and Kenta were dead. Maybe her lack of feeling was an indication that she did feel something after all, like that time with her grandmother. Maybe she needed to feel nothing in order to overlook how rudely she had treated them over the years, and now she could never make it up to them. Ruki closed her eyes and willed these thoughts away. You're a horrible person. But even horrible people have to mind their asses. You have exigent issues right now. Guardromon was also dead among many others, she'd discovered along her travels, and many of the dead children were Digimon-obsessed; they were probably Tamers. What was going on? For all the world there seemed to be a purge of some sort. But of whom? Of us. It was obvious. Someone wanted Tamers and their partners dead. But why? She didn't know. But what she did know was that Renamon, Jenrya and Takato were in immediate danger of being purged, and that did not leave her the luxury of thinking too hard on what everything else that had happened might mean. She had to act, and act fast.

* * *

The Grankuwagamon burst out of his cage and dove straight for Kouji. Trying to contain his panic, he frantically pushed open the only door he had available to him and was confronted with a black void. He gasped and stepped back onto the platform, barely catching himself in time.

"Go on, Kouji! Jump in!" He heard a juvenile voice behind him. Though it belonged to a child, the wisdom in her voice was irresistible. He spun around to find Plotmon at his feet, regarding him with her all-knowing eyes.

"But-!" Kouji blurted out.

"Don't worry, Kouji. You'll fall forever and never hit the ground, but Grankuwagamon can't get to you there." Plotmon explained to him. Kouji breathed heavily, his chest heaving and his mind wheeling.

"Certain death or empty immortality..."

"Humanity has been striving toward empty immortality since the dawn of time. You're the first human to be given such a choice. Now choose, Minamoto Kouji. Will you live or will you die?"

"I can't!"

"You must. Here he comes." With that, Plotmon faded into thin air and death came for him. He staggered backwards and felt the ground vanish from under his feet. If there was ever any nobility in death, it didn't occur to him as doom approached. The will to live always wins out in the end. His biology willed it. What Kouji wanted was irrelevant. As he plummeted toward infinity, he opened his mouth to scream but no sound came out. _Clang_. The abyss vibrated. _Clang clang clang_. The world was going mad, and the sound would not stop. Then he felt a violent tug and opened his eyes to a neon blue globe.

* * *

Jerking awake, he panted from exhaustion. _Pluck, pluck, pluck_, he heard, then he saw Makino plucking her violin.

"I apologize if I woke you up." She said mechanically, acknowledging him. He looked around him and saw the other two teenagers and the three digimon sleeping soundly.

Why was she awake? But of course. Her friends were dead. He would be awake too, if that happened to him. He ought to say something- anything, like Kouichi would. It's basic human decency, his brother would say. He didn't need any of it himself, but he's long since learned not to universalize his experience. He was, as he had discovered, rather unusual. It's expected. It's _right_. She was probably anticipating something right now and judging him in hundreds of ways every passing second of silence. Then why can't he do it? Yes, she was rude too, but as his brother (curse him!) said, sometimes it's not about always being right. Do it, Kouji! Force those words through your mouth!

"I'm sorry about your friends." He blurted out. "I had been callous."

"You don't have to do this." She said nonchalantly.

"Do what?"

"Act like one of _them_." She pointed at the sleeping forms of Izumi and Kouichi. "We both know you have no social graces. Besides, I don't need sympathy."

"Fair enough." Kouji said, relieved. "Normally I'd tell you to count the stars-" He tried again to sound personable and approachable.

"But there are no stars here." She finished for him. "There are no stars in Tokyo either, so I don't know what you're on about."

Kouji did a double take and laughed out loud, while Makino managed a slight smile. Makino wasn't so bad as she'd initially appeared. Maybe, just maybe, they had something in common after all. He was all too glad to drop the act.

"But there are planets. Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Venus. Sometimes even Jupiter's moons, if the night is clear."

"Those aren't stars."

"Oh please. What's the difference between Vega and Venus from where we are? They're white points in the sky."

"But Vega and Venus can't be compared, and you know it." She said stubbornly.

"People have been doing that for centuries. Venus used to be called the morning star."

"They were mistaken."

"You could be mistaken too, if you choose."

"You're advocating lying to yourself."

"Everybody lies to themselves. You'll hardly be the first." The irony in his voice was heavy.

"You're full of it." Ruki was sarcastic but her eyes twinkled with mirth.

"Whatever floats your boat." Kouji replied, crossed his arms, then fell silent. He always had extraordinary difficulty with small talk. In any case, Ruki didn't seem interested in continuing their banter. Kouji noticed that she was eying him inquiringly.

"You can talk, you know." She didn't reply, perplexed at his statement.

"Only if you have something to say. If you have nothing, then you're not obliged to say anything. I'm certainly not implying that I want you to-" He did the socially appropriate thing again- his first impulse was to go back to sleep when the conversation died. He could never understand why he put people on the edge and always had to assure people that he wasn't out to judge them.

"Minamoto-kun, are you a Tamer?" She cut off his protestations, a smile tugging at her lips.

"I don't have that device of yours."

"Oh, the D-Ark? Then I suppose you're not. But Orimoto got one easily enough, so you're probably get a partner as well. Probably that Plotmon who follows you around."

"Is it typical to have two partners?" Kouji asked, gesturing to Terriermon and Impmon. But where the two Digimon slept, there were only two dents indicating their presence.

"Where did they go?"

"I should have told you earlier. Terriermon and Impmon are not my partners." Ruki proceeded to tell him about her friend Jenrya. About Impmon, Ruki seemed to be leaving things out but Kouji did not ask her to elaborate. It took a good fifteen minutes for her to explain the whole situation to him and by the end he was as alarmed as she was.

"So what you're saying is..."

"We're being hunted." Ruki finished. "Us, and our partners. That's why I had to send them away. If there's any way they can get to the Material World, then they must find it. I can't let the same thing happen to Jenrya and Takato."

"Then you have to stay with us. It would be unsafe otherwise."

"I suppose I'll have to, but only if you follow my lead." She replied. She took out her blue D-Ark and studied the screen, completely ignoring him. Kouji wasn't sure what to make of her attitude. One minute they were conversing happily, and then she turned into a stone wall. Even I'm not that bad, Kouji thought.

"I have no objections. I have no idea what the fuck we're doing here, so it's all the same to me." Ruki nodded, and for a while the only sound came from the sleeping digimon. She yawned and plopped down onto the ground.

"You should get some sleep." He finally suggested.

"Wait. You still haven't told me anything about your situation."

"Some other time. You haven't slept."

"Things never just _happen_. You have to be here for a reason."

"We'll live through the night." Kouji insisted.

"Whatever." Ruki lay down and turned the other way. Back to square one.

**Note: I'm in a foreign country right now, and too occupied to do much writing. I've been writing this chapter for ages, but it didn't feel appropriate to move on with the story without detailing Ruki's reaction to her friends' deaths. Then one thing led to another and an idea came into my head and it turned to this delightfully awkward conversation between Ruki and Kouji, two extreme introverts. I also tried to characterize Kouji a little more. His problem is not emotional, but psychological and philosophical and I attempted to reflect that.**

**Not much happens in terms of plot, but I hope you enjoyed the exploration of psychological type interacting. I typed both Kouji and Ruki as INTJs in terms of MBTI. I tend to think Touma (Savers) and Yamato (Adventure) are INTJs as well. This anime does have a strange liking for strong introverted loners. There's one lone-wolf per season for a reason. If there were two you might get a situation like this. I've always had this fantasy of: What if the lone wolves met? Maybe they wouldn't feel so alone after all. And here is the result.**

**We'll check in with Takato, Jenrya and even Takuya and Junpei soon. **


End file.
